The International Distress Signal
Интервью · 19.05.2008
By Булат Шарипов
Mayday - the international distress signal, adopted in radiotelephone communication. It means the same thing as the SOS signal in Morse code. It was precisely with it that the history of one of the most famous dance festivals began. In December 1991, in the German city of Dortmund, an action took place in support of the independent radio station DT64, which had found itself under threat of closure. Back then 5000 people responded to the call. The following spring Mayday was already held for an audience of 10000 people. Thus the "accidental" rave turned out to be the embodiment of the desires of thousands of people and became one of the largest dance events.
For more than a few decades one of the main festivals made more noise than natural disasters at various points on the planet. Since 2002 Mayday has periodically caused a commotion in Petersburg. This year was no exception, but everything went off a little more calmly. The megawatts of sound and megatons of stage constructions, which made the young visitors plunge headlong into carefree abandon in the arena of the "Yubileyny", gave way to cocktail gatherings in the comfortable space of the Manege of the Cadet Corps. There's nothing surprising here, everyone grows up. But the main participant of the festival, who has not missed a single Mayday Russia, Westbam, nonetheless remained unchanged. Besides him, the festival featured performances by Members of Mayday, Adam Beyer, Tiefschwarz, Moonbootica and Breakfastaz.
About the changing spirit of Mayday and the peculiarities of the geography of "raves", Westbam, known in the everyday world as Maximilian Lenz, told in a special interview for 44100hz.
